First came mobile electronics that could travel with you everywhere. There was the Sony (SNE) Walkman personal stereo and Nintendo’s Game Boy. They were luxuries you took with you for fun—or to pacify the kids.
Then came the mobile necessities: The wireless phone, the PDA (personal digital assistant), and in short order, a hybrid of both such as Research in Motion's (RIMM Blackberry and Palm's (PALM) Treo, which caused many a pocket or purse to bulge—and kept many people connected to the office for longer than they might have liked.
Now that we have all these mobile devices, tech companies are taking the next logical step, that of turning their products into articles of clothing or accessories that are wearable all day. You can see it starting to happen with the occurrence of heavy wireless users leaving their Bluetooth headsets attached to their ears throughout the day or with ski jackets built to accommodate Apple's (AAPL) iPod use on the slopes.
Others are seeking to bring new design ideas to what we wear by letting customers design their own pairs of shoes, or dreaming up new uses for shoes themselves, say, in the swimming pool. And then there are one of the oldest wearable devices—the wristwatch. Some companies have sought to give the wristwatch a 21st century makeover by giving it a wireless Internet connection, only to find it really doesn't need one.
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